Mercedes-Benz improves active parking assist – its vehicles can search for parking spaces at up to 35km/h and park twice as fast as before. Park assist comes standard on the E, S class and many of Mercedes’s EVs and operate with the reversing camera and optionally the 360 degree surround view cameras. The car can search for perpendicular spaces with as little as 50cm clearance on each side and then pull in forwards or backwards. The system uses sensors to detect cross traffic, pedestrians and cyclists and can apply AEB if needed. This sort of function will becoming increasingly available on many car models as part of the ADAS package as we go forward.
Innovations in ADAS Calibration
Bosch Vision Positioning has a streamlined solution for calibration of ADAS systems after repairs. As ADAS technology becomes more complex, repair solutions like this are critical to keep costs down. Traditional sensor calibration involved tape measures and string lines, which are prone to human error. The Bosch DAS3000 system uses cameras to precisely align target boards allowing for consistent results, even with novice technicians. As L2+ ADAS becomes increasing common on vehicles, tools like this will be needed in the service industry to keep everyone on the road.
GM Shuts down its Cruise Robotaxi Service
GM said it would no longer fund the development of the Cruise Robotaxi. Activities are to be absorbed into GM with a focus on ADAS and eventually fully autonomous personal cars. Cruise raised a $2B round in 2021 (at a $30B valuation) from investors including GM, Honda and Microsoft. Microsoft said it will take a $800M hit from the closure in a regulatory filing. GM had struggled after a serious accident in San Francisco to keep up with competitors like Waymo and said it was taking too much time and resource to develop the Robotaxi service. Others in the industry think that perhaps they pulled out too soon, as Waymo is showing commercial service is a possibility and the market potential is still large. Learnings from the Cruise team are sure to be applied to GM’s own level 3 driving capability however.
Trump team discussing relaxing rules for autonomous driving – creating a federal framework for autonomous cars, reduce existing roadblocks and increasing the number of self-driving cars allowed on public roads.
The policy details are not complete yet but will likely help accelerate the rollouts of full self-driving and Robotaxi services, benefiting Tesla and others. A federal framework could simplify compliance with the multiple state regulations that exist today. Currently NHSTA limits deployments of autonomous vehicles to 2500 per manufacturer per year.
May Mobility launches Autonomous Shuttle Service at Toyota’s Miyata factoty – using the Toyota e-Palette vehicle.
The shuttle provides service for workers and guests. May Mobility has already provided over 400,000 rides in Japan and the US. Shuttle services, in a restricted area, like a campus or airport for example, are easier places to deploy robo-vehicle services versus the public roads and we are likely to see an increasing number of these services deployed by start-ups like May Mobility into the second half of this decade.
Waymo announced that it will be expanding to Miami in 2026.
After recent expansions in its driverless taxi service in Los Angeles and Austin. Florida’s rainy conditions present new challenges for the AV software and Waymo plans to start testing with safety drivers in early 2025. Waymo is partnering with Moove for fleet management and charging. Waymo also announced in October it was working with Hyundai for its next generation vehicle. Waymo is already providing more than 1000,000 rides per week in San Francisco and Phoenix. I recently tried the Waymo service in San Francisco and will publish a report on that in our next newsletter.
Waymo to roll out service in Tokyo – partnering with Japan’s top taxi service.
The service is planned to roll out in early 2025 and will beat the Japanese automakers to market. Nihon Kotsu will be in charge of managing and servicing of Waymo vehicles. Initially the taxi drivers will operate the vehicles manually, to map the central part of the city with autonomous operation scheduled at some later date. Japan is a very conservative market and this represents an important first step for broader autonomous deployment in the country.
BYD’s Yangwang brand rolls out nationwide HD Map free urban auto pilot.
Yangwang is BYD’s high-end brand and the U8 offroad vehicles use BYD’s “God’s Eye” “Superhuman” ADAS system. The system offers urban Navigate on Autopilot capability that had previously relied on HD maps. The map-free update, allows for expanded coverage beyond the first 7 cities it supported to all regions of mainland China. US OEMs had also been split between HD Map based driving systems and map-free systems. The map-free option will become the standard in the future since it offers more flexibility.
